


One Hit Too Many

by lauriegilbert



Category: Goodbye Earl (Song)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-12-24
Updated: 2009-12-24
Packaged: 2017-10-05 05:30:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,102
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/38289
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lauriegilbert/pseuds/lauriegilbert
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mary Anne gets a devastating phone call that will change her life, and that of her best friend, forever.</p>
            </blockquote>





	One Hit Too Many

**Author's Note:**

  * For [zarabithia](https://archiveofourown.org/users/zarabithia/gifts).



Mary Anne looked at window in shock, barely remembering to hold onto the phone that she still held in her hand. Her mind was blank, no idea of where she was or what she was doing.

"Mary Anne? Mary Anne you still there? Darlin', talk to me. I know you're still there, I can hear you breathin'. Girl talk to your momma so I know you're okay over there."

Something in her mind caught the screaming in her ear and Mary Anne gave herself a shake of her head before coming out of her fog. "Yeah momma, I'm still here. Sorry."

"No need to be sayin' sorry to me. You know I'm worried about you and that that's why I did this myself rather than lettin' you hear it days later from her or from the gossip hounds who just couldn't wait to hear your reactions."

"Thanks momma," Mary Anne sighed. "I'm okay now. Or as okay as I can be. Tell me everything." She sat at her computer while she talked, opening her laptop and frantically surfing to find the soonest flight she could to get back home. Her credit card debt was already huge but she didn't care. This was more important than anything money related.

"Don't know all the details," her momma admitted. "I know they'd been having troubles for a while but Wanda swore me not to tell ya. Said that she didn't want you to be gettin' all worked up over something that she could handle herself."

"Handle it, right," she sniffed.

Her mom chucked at her over the phone, the emotion behind it clear despite the distance between them. "Don't you dare take that out on her. She don't need nothin' like that right now from you. She needs her friend and nothing more. You got that Miss Mary Anne?"

"Yeah momma, I know," Mary Anne sighed, finding a flight that left in two hours and grabbing her credit card. "So things sucked and nobody told me. How did they get from that to her being in the hospital?"

"He hit her too hard this time," her mom said quietly.

"He did _what_?" Mary Anne shrieked. "Momma, ya gotta tell me everything. Now. I just got a flight that leaves soon and I'm packing as we talk. I need to leave in like ten minutes so _talk_!"

"Earl hit her. A lot." Her momma took a deep breath then kept going, knowing that if she laid it all out at once it'd be easier for her to get out. "It started out with just little things. Wanda didn't tell anyone at first. But then he started leaving bruises. He was always careful to make sure she could cover 'em up but she needed to tell someone so she came to me. She swore me to secrecy love, or you know I'd've picked up the phone and got you here as soon as I could. As it was I make sure the sherriff knew to listen to the girl if she ever came around because somethin' was wrong. It was when he kicked her in the stomach and she lost the baby that she got the restrainin' order. But that bastard just walk--"

"**Baby?!** My best friend was pregnant, abused, and miscarriaged because of her shit ass of a husband and nobody told me?!" Mary Anne threw the jeans she'd been carrying into the suitcase so hard the bed bounced and the lid slammed shut, just making her even more pissed off.

"See, I knew you'd be like this. You can deal with that later. Right now I need to make sure you know that he walked through it anyway. He acted like nothin' was different except for he was never around when the cops came by. I think he had a friend listenin' in or something. Anyway so yeah, he went right back last week and poor Wanda just sucked it up. But I guess things went really wrong last night 'cause she was rushed to emerg early this mornin'. Her face is purple, darlin'. When she got there she wasn't breathin' and they had to do something to her heart to get her okay again. I don't know anything more than that but she needs you to be here."

Mary Anne zipped up her suitcase and grabbed her purse. "Goin' out the door to the airport now, momma. I'm gonna go right to the hospital when I get there but I'll call ya as soon as I can, okay?"

"Just, be careful. The both of you," her mom said. "I know how you feel and--"

"Bye momma," Mary Anne said quietly, not wanting to deal with what her momma was about to get into. Tossing the phone on the sofa and locking the door behind her, Mary Anne pulled her suitcase to the elevator, only realizing how much she was shaking when she reached to push the button to call it to her floor. Someone had hurt Wanda. Her Wanda. Not just once, but over and over.

And a baby. Mary Anne knew why Wanda hadn't told her. After the way they'd parted something like that was even harder to deal with. How do you tell the woman you love that you're pregnant with a man's child? Especially when she only married Earl out of a mixture of fear and anger. Wanda hadn't been willing to leave the shelter of town, to move to the city and try to break free from the small town shackles and labels that had held them both back for so very long.

Mary Anne stepped off the elevator and almost ran to her car. She needed to get to Wanda. She needed to say sorry and hold her and make sure she was okay. To promise that she would never leave her again. That it was all her fault. She'd known that Wanda would be lost without her, that she was never the one to make any decision that was a good one without Mary Anne by her side and yet she'd left anyway. She'd kissed her goodbye and walked away, leaving Wanda to sink into the town life she wanted to hide in. And look where it had gotten them both.

Tossing her suitcase into the trunk and taking a deep breath, Mary Anne got into her car to drive to the airport. They'd deal with all of that pain of the past another day. Right now she just needed to get home and to get to Wanda's side. After that they'd think of a plan. And revenge.


End file.
